Servings 6 servings
Ingredients
- 2 small onions 1 finely chopped 1 cut into quarters
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 large thumb size of ginger
- 1/2 scotch bonnet pepper **
- 3 medium-sized fresh tomatoes
- 3 tbsp of vegetable oil
- 1 small red bell pepper
- 1/2 cup of tomato paste
- 1 tbsp of curry powder
- 2 tsp each of garlic and onion powder
- 1 veggie bouillon cube
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 tsp anise seeds
- 2 tsp fresh thyme you can use 1 tsp of dried thyme instead
- 3 1/4 cups of short grain brown rice.
- 2 cups of water total Can sub for mushroom broth if you want
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Please make sure to read the frequently asked questions before preceding.
- In a pot, at medium heat, saute the chopped onions till brown
- While the onions are browning, blend the whole onions, garlic, ginger, scotch bonnet pepper, red bell pepper and tomatoes in 1/4 cup of water
- Add in the tomato paste and cook for a few minutes
- If the pot is getting dry, add a splash of water
- Once the tomato paste has fried for a few minutes, add in the blended tomato mixture and the spices. Mix everything well
- You will then add 1 cup of water to the sauce, cover the pot, and let it cook at medium heat for 20 minutes.
- As the stew is about to get to the 20-minute mark, rinse the rice very very well. It has a lot of starch, which can make it very sticky. Rinsing out the starch is important.
- At the 20 minute mark, mix the rice into the stew. Taste for salt and adjust accordingly. Add 3/4 cup of water then cover the pot well.
- Let the rice come to a boil for about 5 minutes, then cover with parchment paper.
- Turn the heat to low and let the rice cook for 50 minutes. Yes, I know it is a long time but we are using brown rice and we are trying to concentrate the Jollof flavour
- Halfway through, mix the rice so that the bottom does not burn. Taste to make sure it is cooking, then cover again for it to finish cooking.
- After 50 minutes, check on the rice to see if it is cooked. If not, give it a few minutes.
- Once the rice is done, let it cool down a bit before serving. The rice might feel a bit sticky, just because of the nature of this rice, but when it cools down it will be perfect
Notes
** you can use habanero, jalapeno or any spicy chilli pepper ** if you do not have veggie bouillon powder, you can switch for liquid veggie broth but substituting the water in this recipe for veggie broth